Thursday Notes: Kitna Loses Cool Due to a Few Big Hits

by Sean Yuille on Aug 14, 2008 1:10 AM EDT in Notes Comment 0 comments

After following their usual routine on Wednesday, the Lions will not have practice today as Rod Marinelli canceled the two originally scheduled sessions. They will be back on the practice field tomorrow before traveling to Cincinnati on Saturday to get ready for their second preseason game on Sunday.
ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert visited the Lions on Wednesday to take in their two practices, and he shared some of his observations on his blog.
Seifert also posted the most detailed version of what caused Jon Kitna to lose his temper during yesterday's morning practice. Basically, the practice had already been very fierce and the defense was not holding back at all. Dwight Smith was talking smack to Casey FitzSimmons, Ernie Sims put a big hit on Mike Furrey, and Buster Davis laid out Dan Campbell right after a Kitna pass came in. And then Davis did the same thing to John Owens, causing Kitna to lose it.

"Do something, Buster! Do something!" Kitna screamed, over and over, after the play. (We're guessing he meant, "Do something in this league before you start throwing players around in practice.") Getting angrier with each yell, Kitna started walking toward Davis before a few coaches got in his way. Fists never came close to flying, but rarely do you so much as see a quarterback advance in a threatening manner.
I can understand where Kitna is coming from as I doubt he likes to see his receivers getting hit so hard in practice, but he's got to understand where Buster Davis is coming from. Davis is fighting for a spot on the roster with other linebackers, and he's got to show the coaches that he deserves to make the team. Letting up and gently running into offensive players is not that way to do that, so what does Kitna expect?

After practice, Kitna spoke to the media and basically blamed the little temper tantrum on the entire team being a little cranky as they don't get to play their next preseason game until Sunday, which comes 10 days after their first one.

"I'm not going to get into specifics, that's how competitors are,'' Kitna said. "Today's really the last day and we're ready to start seeing other people on a weekly basis. You usually don't go more than seven days without a game in preseason and this is our seventh day -- and we've still got three more days until we play. The guys are just ready to hit somebody else.''
In the grand scheme of things this little conflict means nothing, but I do like the aggressiveness Buster Davis showed in practice. He knows that he has to do everything possible to try and make the team, and if that means popping a couple of tight ends then so be it.
One final thing to mention from Kevin Seifert's account of what caused Kitna's outburst is that Roy Williams did not practice. I have no idea why he didn't, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.
Madden NFL 09 came out earlier this week, and I'll post a review of it sometime soon. Overall, the game seems pretty good, although the Lions do sort of suck. Their offensive line and running game in Madden are sadly just about as bad as they are in real life. Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams are dominant, but rarely did it seem like I had very much time to get the ball to them as the blitz gets to Kitna quickly.
Could Chad Johnson someday legally be known as Chad Ocho Cinco? The answer to that question is yes, and no, I'm not joking.